Alchemical Pursuits
by Rotten Glee
Summary: FMAverse. Sasuke is a legendary State Alchemist who lost his love in a recent accident. Now, homunculi appear and Sasuke has to face the possibilities that Naruto might still be alive. NaruSasu.
1. Prologue, Maybe

Title: Alchemical Pursuits

Author: Kaeru

Pairings: NaruxSasu (main; others will be debated and decided in future!)

Rating: PG-13 for cussing and sexual innuendos. Err… I'll rate each chapter by content, but the overall fic should be M/MA, just so ya know. I'm writing yaoi, what do you expect?

Warnings: Yaoi (meaning boyxboy, meaning if you're not gay, or straight-but-with-weird-fetishes, or very open-minded and tolerable, this is NOT for you), yuri (girlxgirl; see above), cussing, sexual innuendos.

Summary: FMA-verse. Sasuke is a legendary State Alchemist who lost his love in a recent accident. Now, homunculi appear and Sasuke has to face the possibilities that Naruto might still be alive. NaruSasu.

Disclaimer: No own; no sue. It all goes to Masashi Kishimoto. Not the suing part, mind you. Just the owning.

Kaeru: Heya, peeps! Glad you're here! It must mean that my muses have cast Imperio on you and forced you to read this! XD Hah! Anyway, this is a Naruto fanfic, and although it's FMA-verse (meaning it takes place in the wonderful alchemical world of FullMetal Alchemist!), this is not a crossover! I repeat, THIS IS NOT A CROSSOVER! There will be no appearances by chibi-Edo, or the perverted Colonel. If this disappoints you, then I'm sorry. But I just thought up this idea while high on coke! And coke as in the soda, not the drug, kays? I don't do drugs! DRUGS ARE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND LIFE!!!

Err… (shifts in seat sheepishly) Right, anyway, cheesy advertisements on health and living aside, I just have to say that I'm not very familiar with the characters of FMA. I know most of them, and are perhaps a tad bit obsessive of the main characters' personalities and lives, but the minor characters and some of the bad guys are not very well-acquainted with me. So, please bear with me if I get anything about them wrong, kay? Oh, and by the way, most of the Naruto characters will probably be OOC (out of character), too, since I have to make them to fit the FMA people! But anyways, that's all! You can go read now! And please don't forget to review!

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Glossary:

Baka- stupid, idiot. It's a noun, not a verb.

Baa-baa- literally means old woman, also used for auntie, and normally used to address old ladies. When Naruto uses it, though, he means Tsunade's an old hag! XD. Other variations of it are baachan, baasan. Sometimes an o- is added at the front to seem more polite.

Teme- bastard. No literal meaning. Usually placed at the end of a name. Naruto calls Sasuke this. (spoken under breath) _To show his love for him_. XD.

-chan- an honorific added to the name of a person if they are a close friend. Usually used for girls, and when used for boys, it will seem girly, not because it IS for girls, but because it shows a lot more affection than boys are used to showing/receiving.

Otouto- little brother. Can add a –san (respectful) or a –chan (affectionate) to the end.

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Chapter I: Prologue, Maybe?

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"Sasuke--"

"No."

"But Sasuke--"

"I said no."

"You don't even--"

"I do. And I said no."

"…"

Sasuke looked up from the Alex Shearer book he'd been trying (and failing) to read and raised a brow at the sight of his room mate, Chouji, pouting and eyes brimming with soon-to-be-shed tears. Normally, Sasuke wouldn't give a second thought about it. But normally, Chouji didn't have a very scary and very annoying and very persistent crazy blonde woman, also known as Ino, to chew out Sasuke's butt if he ever upset the other boy in any way.

Internally sighing, Sasuke half wished that the blonde girl was still obsessed with him to a point where it was severely disturbing; it was much more easy dealing with her when it came to turning down invitations to going out than when it came to making her sort-of brother cry.

"But Sasuke…," whined Chouji, and Sasuke laid down his book on his bed before standing up and sighing out loud.

"Fine," he relented, holding out one hand. "Give it here."

Chouji's chubby face lit up brightly with a smile and he placed a small black mangled plastic object in the palm of the ebonette's hand.

Sasuke peered down at it indifferently and closed his fingers around it. Without much effort, he transmuted it into what it was once before. Chouji let out a happy yelp and grabbed the mini puppy toy from his hand, shouting a thank you.

Sasuke winced at the loudness. "Hn."

With that, he sat back onto his bed and continued with his book while Chouji bounded out the door and down the hallway loudly and happily. Sasuke shook his head and went on reading. Unfortunately for him, today was not his day and TEBUA (a.k.a The Evil Being Up Above) liked watching him suffer, or, in this case, preventing him from finishing his book, which was due back at the library in Central in less than a week (and he'd barely gotten to the climax of the story!).

And so, according to Sasuke's logic and the logic of the universe, that was why a maniacal, pink-haired, wrench-wielding girl came storming into his room not seconds after Chouji had left and started bashing his head in with the afore-mentioned wrench.

"YOU –bang- STUPID –hit- LAZY –smash- LITTLE –thud- PRETTY –boink- BOY!!" screamed Sakura shrilly, breaking her own record of loudness and giving Sasuke (who had somehow found himself on the floor, with several LARGE bruises on SEVERAL parts of his body) one last hit on his head before stepping back.

Sasuke twitched on the floor before standing up and glaring at a red-faced Sakura.

"Sakura!" he yelled. "What'd you do that for?!"

Sakura glared right back. "You were _supposed_ to help with dinner, baka!"

Sasuke scowled and glanced at the clock on the opposite wall, next to the door.

"Dinner's in _three hours_!" he spluttered, gesturing at the clock.

Sakura hit his hand with her wrench ("Ow! Stop that!") and placed her hands on her hips. "That clock has been dead for three weeks, Sasuke! It's already seven-fifty!"

Sasuke, rubbing his injured hand, looked surprised. "What? That's impossible! I changed the batteries just two days ago!"

Sakura rolled her emerald eyes. "Yes, well, Chouji took them out for his radio."

Sasuke's eye twitched at that. "… Is Ino in town?"

"Yes. She just got back yesterday."

"… Think she'll notice if Chouji's gone missing?"

"He's kinda hard to miss," Sakura pointed out.

Sasuke sighed in defeat. "True," he agreed grudgingly.

Sakura shook her head and turned to leave the room. "Come on, then. Dinner's ready."

Sasuke nodded absently and picked up his book from the floor. Placing it neatly at the corner of his desk, he turned to follow after the pink-haired mechanic. That is, before something Sakura said made him pause and go red with both anger and embarrassment.

"AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING_ PRETTY_!"

----++----

At the dinner table, Sasuke tried to ignore the idle, excited chatter of Ino (who was animatedly telling the others what she'd seen and do in East City), Sakura, Chouji and Tsunade. It wasn't hard, since they pretty much didn't notice him, anyway, and Sasuke mentally sighed as he poked at the mashed potato on his plate.

That is, until a large wrench flew at his head out of nowhere and successfully tilted his head backwards at an impossible angle.

Upon recovering from the uncalled for attack, the ebonette found that it was Tsunade instead who had hit him instead of Sakura and he glared an Uchiha glare.

"What, baa-baa?" he growled venomously.

The pale blond-haired woman glared back at him, though not with as much intensity as an Uchiha.

"You've been spacing out more than usual, kid," she said. "Is everything okay?"

Sasuke was mildly surprised at her concern, as well as the fact that she'd notice that something was bothering him. But he kept that well hidden and instead pushed his chair back and stood up.

"I'm fine," he said tersely. "May I be excused?" Without waiting for a reply, he swiftly left the dining room and stormed out the front door, leaving silence to reign over the table.

Sakura stood and made to follow after him, but Tsunade held her back.

"Don't," she said softly. "Leave him alone. He'll come round."

Sakura looked doubtful, but stayed. Tsunade must knew what she was talking about.

----+----

Sasuke didn't look where he was going and let his feet carry him on instinct. His hands were fisted in his pockets and as a cold breeze blew by, he regretted leaving the house without his black coat. Shivering, he pulled out his hands to rub up and down his bare arms, cursing the day she'd allowed Sakura to convince him to buy the god-awful sleeveless black muscle shirt he wore now.

Sighing (he'd been doing that a lot that day, mentally and out loud), he trudged on as he let himself get lost in his thoughts.

For the past two weeks, ever since he'd returned from Central, the boy had been restless. He slept much less than usual (which was about three hours a day, considering he barely slept at all, even before), his eating habits (which consisted usually of bread, juice /he would never subject himself to drinking milk/ and an egg or two) were declining unhealthily and he was constantly plagued by the feeling of being watched.

He wasn't so much scared by the fact that his health was quickly going downhill than the fact that the symptoms of which he was facing were the same as when _he_ died.

Sasuke shivered again, this time for a totally different reason. Without him knowing, a single tear streamed down his pale cheek as he thought of _him_

It was barely three years ago since _his_ death and Sasuke still couldn't forget that fateful night.

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"_Sasuke… Let go of my hand."_

"_No! I won't let you go!"_

"_You have to." _

_Hoarseness in his voice, laced with pain and tears. _

"_You have to live."_

_Sobs. More tears. More pain. _

"_Not without you!"_

_Too much pain. Too much blood. Too much._

"_Sasuke…"_

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The sound of something crunching beneath his foot snapped Sasuke out of his reverie and the ebonette raised his head to see the dark silhouette of a grotesque statue, hunched over with what seemed to be wings folded on its back.

Sasuke wasn't surprised and continued past the gargoyle, nimbly stepping over the fallen, black iron fence. Before proceeding, however, the ebonette felt pity for said fence and touched it with one palm. Dark blue light flashed beneath his touch and soon a new fence stood in the old one's place, strong and proud.

Satisfied, the onyx-eyed teen turned and once more continued with his walk. Familiar unmarked stones rose all over the hill he stood on and were he any other person, Sasuke would've had trouble looking for one single stone. Since he wasn't, he barely wavered in his steps towards the peak of the hill, where one particular grave marker stood alone, an orange sash tied around it, its ends dancing in the evening wind.

Sasuke stopped directly in front of it, hands in his pockets once more as his dark eyes glazed over.

Beloved Friend and Lover

Uzumaki Naruto

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_Pain. Lights. Screams._

"_Sasuke? Sasuke!"_

_Crying. Tears. Who was it?_

"_Sasuke, run!"_

_More pain. Hurts. Too much._

"_Sasuke!"_

_Can't move. Hurts. What's happening?_

"_Sasuke… I love you, Sasuke."_

_Fading. No more pain. No more lights. Disappearing._

"_I… I love you, too…"_

_Gone._

"_Naruto?"_

_Nowhere to be seen._

"_Naruto!"_

_Just… Gone._

"_Naruto, don't go!"_

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"Tch. Never thought the great teme would still be depressed after three years."

The cocky, arrogant voice behind him made his eyes widen and Sasuke whirled around to face the owner of said voice.

A tall, taller than Sasuke by three inches, man (or boy? Sasuke didn't know) stood three feet away from him, hidden beneath a hooded black cloak with tattered edges. Nothing was visible of the other, and the darkening evening sky did not help.

"Who are you?" demanded Sasuke, voice cold and laced with venom.

The hooded head rose a little and Sasuke caught a glimpse of sharp white fangs poking out of the corners of plump pink lips and smooth, tanned skin.

"What? Forgotten me already?" said the figure in mock hurt. "My, my, Sasu-_chan_, how cold of you."

Sasuke felt his blood boil at the familiar way the man addressed him and he touched one arm with the other, transmuting his automail arm into his usual dagger swiftly.

This seemed to further amuse his unwanted companion, who chuckled darkly, and Sasuke charged at him without a word.

Surprisingly, the boy/man didn't turn or run or even dodge to the side, and instead held out one tanned and muscled arm from under his cloak. Before Sasuke could react, the other grabbed his approaching blade and raised it, bringing Sasuke up with it.

Sasuke's onyx eyes widened and he jerked his arm down to get out of the boy's/man's grip. When that didn't work and only made the boy/man laugh even more, Sasuke, whose leg was now conveniently level with a certain part of the human male anatomy, kicked. And hard.

Oh, yes, very hard indeed, judging by the shrill scream that suddenly pierced the air. Sasuke jumped back and away from him immediately after being released and watched warily as the boy/man bent over and clutched at his injured privates.

"Fuck, teme," hissed the boy/man angrily and Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that made its way to his pale face.

His smirk disappeared, though, when arms encircled him from behind and transmuted a long piece of metal into shackles and swiftly cuffed his hands in front of him before he could react.

A hard body pressed against his back from behind and Sasuke gasped when the arms around him tightened and a pair of wet lips whispered into his ear.

"Never let your guard down… otouto."

Fear, anger and apprehension fought inside him before rage pushed all other emotion aside and overwhelmed him, making Sasuke growl lowly.

"Itachi," he hissed, jerking his head forward and craning his neck to look behind him.

Crimson eyes locked with his own onyx orbs and Sasuke suddenly found himself drowning in blood, pain and dormant memories of murders taking place right before his eyes.

Sasuke fell forward onto his knees, gasping and clutching at his heart with his shackled hands, the blade on his automail arm long gone. His head ached as more memories flooded his mind and he tried to focus his glazed eyes when a hand roughly grabbed at his hair and tilted his head harshly upward.

Sasuke couldn't see the boy's/man's face (not that he could see _anything_ clearly, at the moment), but he could faintly make out dark red eyes, red like Itachi's, with vertical slits of black pupils staring down at him condescendingly.

"Tch. Look what you did, Itachi," growled the boy/man accusingly, though Sasuke barely understood a word he was saying. "Now he's going to stay like that for hours and we won't be able to have any fun!"

A soft snort sounded from behind the ebonette as Itachi replied uncaringly, "Hn. Be quiet. We're here to do a job, not play with my otouto. We can do that later."

"Aww, you're just as much a bastard as him, Itachi," whined the boy/man, and Sasuke just about managed to catch himself from falling face first into the grassy ground when the boy/man released his hold on the ebonette's hair.

Sasuke blearily stared as his blurred vision made out Itachi and the boy/man doing something at Naruto's grave.

Frowning, Sasuke blinked and for a moment, his sight returned and he saw that Itachi was handing a shovel to the boy/man and said boy/man begun to dig at the ground.

"S-stop," stammered Sasuke, trying to sound threatening upon realizing that they were going to dig out Naruto's grave.

Itachi glanced at him before looking back to survey his partner's work and totally ignoring the ebonette. Sasuke growled and stood, about to move towards them when another bout of dizziness attacked him and he fell forward on his knees again.

This time, he couldn't even stop himself from falling over and as he laid there on his side, watching the bane of his life and an unknown person defiling the resting place of the one person Sasuke had ever learned to love, he passed out.

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_Tbc…_

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Kaeru: KYA!! So? How was it? Should I continue, or leave it to rot? Please review and let me know what you think!


	2. Leaving

Title: Alchemical Pursuits

Author: Kaeru

Pairings: NaruxSasu (main; others will be debated and decided in future!)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, yuri, cussing, possible rape (this is only being contemplated, but if I receive no bad reception, I'll carry it out).

Summary: FMA-verse. Sasuke is a legendary State Alchemist who lost his love in a recent accident. Now, homunculi appear and Sasuke has to face the possibilities that Naruto might still be alive. NaruSasu.

Disclaimer: No own; no sue. It all goes to Masashi Kishimoto. Not the suing part, mind you. Just the owning.

Kaeru: (squeals) KYAAA!!! I can't believe so many people actually liked this! I'm so glad! I really didn't want to leave this to rot, even though I was kinda facing difficulties in starting this chapter. BUT! I finally managed to get around to writing it, and so, here it is! Please enjoy and review! I like reviews… XD

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Glossary:

Dobe- dead last. I dunno where it stems from XD. It's Sasuke's pet name for Naruto, just like how Naruto calls him teme.

Sharingan- Uchiha bloodline technique. It exists in this fic, and plays a part in his past in this fic, but I won't be getting too technical unless someone asks for an explanation.

Dattebayo- If I'm not mistaken, it's directly translated as 'Believe it!' or something. It's Naruto's favorite phrase. Don't know much about it.

Shousa- as far as I know, this means Major, as in military rank/standing.

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Chapter II: Leaving

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_Warm. So warm. Want more warmth. Need it. So bad._

"_Sasuke?"_

"_Yes, Naruto?"_

"_You… love me, don't you?"_

_Hesitant smile, full of doubt and worry. Baka. Why's he looking so sad?_

"_Of course, dobe. Why else would I be here with you?"_

_A laugh; sweet sound full of relief and happiness. Sasuke likes that sound. It was _Naruto'_s sound._

"_Teme! Who're you calling dobe!"_

_A kiss; gentle and fleeting. Sasuke wants more, but Naruto doesn't. Something about precautions. Tch. Screw precaution._

"_Sasuke, promise me something."_

_Change of mood. Naruto's serious now, his face grim._

_Worry tinges his own heart._

"_Naruto…? What's wrong?"_

"_Sasuke, please. Promise me."_

"… _Hn. I don't make promises, Naruto."_

"_Teme! Just this once, for me. Please."_

_A hint of desperation in clear, sapphire eyes. Sasuke finds it endearing, but prefers Naruto's laughter._

"… _Fine. What is it?"_

_Silence for a moment. Naruto looks away, ponders on something for a flitting second before turning back. His eyes are steely now, and Sasuke shivers._

"_When I die, you'll keep living, okay? Don't look back. Don't forget, but never look back."_

_Sasuke scowls. What is he saying? Baka, talking about dying in _their_ time._

"_Naruto, don't be a baka! Nobody's dying."_

_Sapphire orbs are still steely. Sasuke's shoulders are grabbed and he winces._

"_Sasuke…"_

_His eyes soften. Hands grip harder and Sasuke suddenly finds himself being shoved away._

"_I love you, Sasuke. Only you."_

_Further away, he's going. Disappearing._

"_Naruto? Naruto!"_

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Sasuke stared over the hill with dark red eyes, his pupils surrounded by three Sharingan wheels that spun rapidly. A wind blew past him, billowing his black coat about him and playing with his long bangs, slightly concealing his eyes.

"Sasuke, time to go; spring's youthfulness is a wasting!" called a deep, loud voice behind him, and Sasuke whirled around and stomped down the green hill.

Passing by a man with bushy eye brows and a ghastly bowl-cut, he ignored the large grin on his face and continued past him to face a sniffing Sakura (who tried to hide her tears by gripping her wrench in front of her face), a concerned Ino and eating Chouji. Tsunade wasn't there, a fact which immensely relieved the ebonette; he didn't think he'd be able to leave with a straight face if he saw the pain in her eyes.

"Sasuke…," whispered Sakura hoarsely, and Sasuke inwardly flinched when he saw the slight fear in her eyes upon seeing the Sharingan in his own onyx orbs.

"I'll return as soon as possible," he said tersely, bowing. When he straightened, his breath was knocked out of him as Sakura glomped him, a wail leaving her throat.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile softly at that and hugged her weakly back. When Sakura finally released him, Ino playfully, but with strength no normal woman possessed, slapped him on the shoulder, though her eyes were watering slightly.

"You'd better, Uchiha," she said sternly. "Or I'll come over there and ransack the whole place until I find your skinny little white ass!"

Sasuke grunted in reply, rubbing his abused shoulder and raised a brow when Chouji held a packet of sweets to him.

"I don't like sweets," he said pointedly.

Chouji rolled his eyes. "Just take it!"

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly and did so, though the corners of his lips were twitching upward. Bushy-browed man coughed pointedly behind him and Sasuke straightened before bowing once more and turning around to walk over to the older man.

Before he reached him, though, something hard, cold and heavy was flung at the back of his head, and Sasuke just about managed to dodge it, thanks to his Sharingan. A large wrench landed on the dirt ground in front of him heavily and Sasuke whirled around, growling and glaring.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS _THAT_ FOR, BAA-BAA?!" he roared, one brow twitching.

Another wrench was flung at him and this time, Sasuke was too busy twitching to move, which resulted in him falling to the ground on his back and a big, pulsing red bump inhabiting his forehead.

The ebonette swiftly jumped to his feet and glared venomously at the approaching blonde, trying hard to stay angry so he wouldn't have to see _that_ hurt in _those_ eyes. The hurt he'd seen when he'd brought news of Naruto's death…

"Uchiha…," whispered the blonde quietly, and Sasuke screamed at himself inwardly, hating himself for causing the old woman any more pain.

"How _could_ you…," she hissed, closing in on him, and Sasuke held his ground, his glare intensified by his Sharingan. "How _dare_ you…"

The slap that came after was unexpected, even to Sasuke, and the ebonette blinked several times with his head still snapped to the side as he heard the collected gasps of Sakura, Ino and Chouji.

"Tsunade-baachan!" exclaimed Sakura, going over to Sasuke's side and looking up at Tsunade with confusion in her eyes.

Tsunade ignored the pink-haired girl and continued glaring at the Uchiha.

"Don't you _dare_ come back here in a body bag, Uchiha," she said quietly, her eyes glinting. "Don't you…--"

Sasuke winced when he heard the normally strong, confident voice crack, and he closed his eyes to will away the tears forming behind his closed lids. Turning around, he ignored everything else around him and started walking over to the bushy-browed man still waiting for him.

"Don't worry, baa-baa," he said softly over his shoulder, pausing in his strides. "I'll come back. That's a promise." As an after thought, he added, "Dattebayo."

He continued walking again, even though he heard the old woman fall to her knees and cry, while Sakura and Ino tried to comfort her.

He could hear her mumbling, softly, almost hysterically, "That's what _he_ said, too! Gods, that's what _Naruto_ said before he _died_!"

"Should we leave like this?" asked the man in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

Sasuke didn't look at him and instead continued down the road. The man followed wordlessly and after they were a fair way away form the small house beyond the hill, he paused and looked back, still seeing the silhouettes of his only family.

"It's better this way, Gai-shousa," he muttered, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself more than the other man.

The bushy-browed man, Gai, nodded understandingly, and they continued on their way down the road, both silent and lost in their own thoughts.

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_Tbc…_

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Kaeru: Kyaa!! Sorry this is short and crappy! But I wanted to give Kakashi a dramatic entrance in the next chapter! Heehee! Guess who he's playing? XD Anyway, please review! I like reviews… AND I LOVE YOU GUYS WHO REVIEWED!! (squeals) YOU'RE SO GREAT!!! Especially makebelievegirl, since she reviewed first! And yeah, Gai is Major Alex Louis Armstrong!!! LOLZ!! Aren't they similar enough?


	3. Kyuubi

Title: Alchemical Pursuits

Author: Kaeru

Pairings: NaruxSasu (main; others will be debated and decided in future!)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, yuri, cussing, possible rape (this is only being contemplated, but if I receive no bad reception, I'll carry it out).

Summary: FMA-verse. Sasuke is a legendary State Alchemist who lost his love in a recent accident. Now, homunculi appear and Sasuke has to face the possibilities that Naruto might still be alive. NaruSasu.

Disclaimer: No own; no sue. It all goes to Masashi Kishimoto. Not the suing part, mind you. Just the owning.

Kaeru: Kyaaaa!!! Hey, minna-san! Here's the long chapter I promised, after the last shamefully short one. (puts a paper bag over her head to hide her embarrassed face) Anyways, please don't forget to review!!

Extra: Ok, someone asked me, or rather, accused me (kidding X3) that it doesn't add up as to how/why the Sharingan exists in this universe. Well, I made changes to the Sharingan's abilities and modified its origin (it's not an Uchiha bloodline trait, for example). In other words, it's only the Sharingan in name and appearance. Its abilities I will say, but its origin is a vital point in the plot, so I won't say it yet. Anyway, back to its abilities; instead of being able to copy jutsu, the Sharingan enables Sasuke/Itachi to detect alchemical residue. And since most transmutation circles (at least, the powerful ones, anyway XD) have their own unique designs, the Sharingan allows the brothers to copy said circles without much effort. Not only that, it also sort of enhances the brothers' alchemical abilities (I mean, Edo is a genius, ne? And he can transmute without circles. Sasuke and Itachi can, too, and the Sharingan allows them to do so). The Sharingan also has a little bit of its original abilities; it can manipulate the mind into believing illusions (think illusionist alchemists XD).

On how this works, let's just say that by transmuting tiny particles of the air around it, the Sharingan can produce a hallucinogenic chemical in the environment that affects the mind, thus giving the Sharingan wielder a sway over another human by saying certain things that trigger certain stuff in certain people's memories (the big glitch is that the brothers' would have to know the person first for the Sharingan to take full effect, otherwise they'd just cause the person to hallucinate and distort their perception of reality). That's why Sasuke reacted the way he did when Itachi came. Itachi did something similar here as he did in Naruto in the past. So, in the end, Sasuke hates he guts in this, too. XD. and the Sharingan allows the brothers' sight to discern otherwise unnoticeable details in their environment with barely any effort, therefore giving them nearly-all-seeing vision (almost like Byakuugan… XD).

At any rate, if you're wondering what Itachi said/did that triggered Sasuke's reaction, then you'll have to wait until a flashback comes in which I fit in the last line Itachi said to Sasuke before our favorite little bishi experienced otherworldly pain. Anyway, that's all I guess. Any more questions will be answered upon being asked. Thank you!

PS: When Sasuke's eyes were red because of the Sharingan, it was due to a side effect of suffering from Itachi's attack. Since they both have the Sharingan, the abilities of the Sharingan sort of negate each other's effects. Under normal circumstances, neither would be able to cause each other to fall into any illusionary state, but since Sasuke was caught off guard, he fell prey to Itachi's much more advanced (since the guy's older than Sasuke) Sharingan. The side effect was that in order to fight off his brother's illusion, Sasuke had to keep his own Sharingan active until the illusion wore off (which would normally take a day, in my twisted mind).

PSS: I would also like to add that, despite it's name, a hallucenogen does _not_ cause you to hallucinate. Don't believe me? Look it up on Wiki.

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Review Replies:

---frixiewulf13---

i enjoyed it... but the progress seems to be slowing down... hasten it up! niways, how i wish if you did elaborate a bit on naru and sasu's past...

update soon!:D i'm looking forward to your next chappie!

--- Uwah! I KNOW! I'm so sorry! Forgive me! (bows lowly) Anyway… Hehehe… Maybe… Maybe I won't? XD Kya, I'm not that mean! There'll be several flashbacks to come, and more details as well, so, patience! Again, I'm sorry for the previous short chapter. (mutters under breath) Shameful writing… Shameful…

---makebelievegirl---

Yay! It sad but interesting so I love it. Even though these stories are keeping me from my own stories. Sh, don't tell anybody.

--- YAY! You like it! (grins madly and starts to dance around before glomping you) I wuve you so much! Yes, it IS kinda sad, but it'll get better, I promise! Naruto's gonna make everything better! … Maybe… XD Wah, anyway, heehee! I won't tell! (crosses finger over heart)

---LieseFlustern---

I really like this story so far!!

I have never read a Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist crossover-ish story  
before... Think I might consider doing so, lol.

I'm looking forward to reading more!!

-x LF x-

--- Lolz! Glad you think so! Thanks for reviewing! Sorry for my late updating, but I hope you're not too put off by that. Jaa!

---Organoid---

Kakashi's gonna be either Roy or Ling, I am suspecting.

Great start, even though some of the little details doin't quite fit (Like,  
how is Sharingan in the FMAverse?).

--- LOLZ!! Kyaa! You got it half right! Kakashi is truly our one and only wonderfully perverted Colonel! X3 Lolz. And thanks, for reviewing as well as pointing out the Sharingan thing. I've already thought of all those details, I just haven't put them into the fic yet, but since you asked, I explained (above) and I hope you're satisfied with that.

---pure-white-angel---

interesting second chapter. Can't wait until the next update

--- Kyaa! Thanks for reviewing! Sorry that the last chapter was horribly short! I'll try writing more in future.

---j7nx---

I'm a little confused...Did this happen before or after the meeting with  
Itachi? I think it's after but I dunno. But it was interesting so I hope that  
you will update soon.

--- Oops! Sorry. It happened after. Sasuke was staring of into the distance (aka, dozing off with open Sharingan eyes X3) after the encounter with Itachi and the 'mysterious' cloaked person. Anyways, thanks for reviewing!

---PirateCaptainBo---

Bo: can't wait for next chapter! I have a guess who Kakashi is! Either Roy...  
or that other person who dies... oh man i am so good with names. XD

Ski: UPdate soon please! Great story! like the fusion of Naru-chan and FMA.

--- Lolz. Hehe, yea, Kakashi is ROY-taisa!! WOOTS! XD Anyway, thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you think this story's great, so I hope you won't be too angry about the late update… I suck like that… T,T

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Glossary:

-taisa: Colonel

-shoui: Lieutenant

iya: slang of 'iie,' which means no.

daijoubu: it's alright

dbbe: dead last, blockhead

baka: idiot, stupid, fool

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Chapter III: Kyuubi

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Uchiha Sasuke was not someone you would want to anger. For one thing, if you already knew that much, you'd be someone he knew, which would make it easier for him to hurt you. For another, the kid was powerful, and even if you didn't know him, you'd have to be blind to not see the scary, although beautiful, face and not run away screaming 'Bloody murder!'.

So when Hatake Kakashi-taisa purposely, and very much deliberately, kept the easily agitated teen waiting, and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting _and_ waiting, in his office for six hours, Gai had to wonder if the man didn't have a death wish (for his colleagues, if not for himself).

"Where the _hell_ is that damn bastard?!" yelled Sasuke furiously, vein popping on his head as he jumped up from the couch he had been sitting on for the whole time they'd been in the room.

His butt was numb now and he really needed someone to punch. And he was starting to get hungry on top of that.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm sure Kakashi-taisa will arrive shortly," said Tenten from the now-open door of the office.

Sasuke glared at her before slamming a fist down on Kakashi's desk, leaving a deep indent on the perfectly smooth and polished surface.

"He damn well better be if he doesn't want his ass barbecued!" threatened the ebonette, eyes burning.

Tenten seemed unperturbed by his actions (though she did pity the taisa, even though it was his own fault anyway) and merely sighed to herself. Sasuke continued to grumble under his breath, while Gai seemed content to continue with his push-ups on the carpeted floor.

The brunette shoui silently watched the brooding Alchemist and, not for the first time, wondered whether or not the boy was truly alright. Tenten didn't delude herself in thinking that she knew him inside out, unlike many of his fan girls all over the cities, but she wasn't dubbed Hawkeye for nothing. Her warm doe-brown orbs rarely missed any details, and she was well-aware of the fact that Sasuke had changed.

She studied him almost dutifully from where she stood and noted with distaste that he'd lost a large amount of weight, despite the fact that he didn't have much in the first place (she'd always wondered if the boy took slimming pills or something; it was impossible for _anyone_ to stay so small, especially if they ate as ravenously as the Uchiha). His snow-white skin had lost its accustomed silvery radiance and had paled further, making him look downright sickly and corpse-like. His dark eyes were dulled now when they had once shone brightly with determination, and he'd obviously hadn't gotten much sleep at all, judging from the dark rings beneath his eyes. His bangs hung limply in his face, hiding most of his sharp, angular features, and his usual spiked hair had drooped so low, it almost looked normal. Tenten thought Naruto would probably have a field day about Sasuke's lost 'duck-butt hair'.

The thought of the energetic blonde made her heart clench painfully, and the brunette knew exactly what was affecting Sasuke so. If it still hurt for her to think of him, imagine what he felt, knowing what he knew, feeling what he felt.

A little over a year's worth of time could barely heal wounds caused by losing one's most precious person.

"Tenten, I'm going to get a drink."

The low, irritable voice broke her out of her thoughts and Tenten smiled at the Uchiha as he moved past her, still grumbling about a certain 'useless, porn-reading taisa'.

"Shall I come with you?" she asked. Sasuke paused next to her and glanced into warm brown eyes.

Tenten knew he knew what she meant; did he need someone to talk to, or did he want to think alone for a while? Their relationship had never been terribly close, as it had been between Naruto and Sasuke, but they were close enough and similar enough in certain areas that they could understand each other with little use of words.

After a moment of silence, the boy shook his head and flashed her a small, barely noticeable smile. "Iya, daijoubu."

With a swish of his black coat, Sasuke left the large office, and Tenten had to suppress a giggle when he started in a run once Gai noticed he was leaving and started chasing after him, shouting something along the lines of leaving his 'youthful charge' alone and unsupervised, his sentence so full of 'spring', 'youth' and 'young' you'd have to think the man needed a new thesaurus.

When a moment passed after the departure of the two males, the brunette glanced around the office for a while before noticing the large piles of official papers on the taisa's desk and her usual pleasant expression darkened.

Kakashi was getting more than a frying session with Sasuke if she ever found out he was purposely being late to get out of doing paperwork…

----++----

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Oi! That's hot, dammit!"

"Uchiha-san, what on earth are you doing?!"

"It took me ages to put those up, man!"

Sasuke never once stopped in his mad dash to any of the complaints and death glares or scared looks he was receiving, and merely shouted a hurried 'sorry' over his shoulder, not knowing and not exactly caring whether or not they heard him. He was too busy set on losing Gai, which was a lot harder than one would think. Gai's bite wasn't even close to being no worse than his bark.

By the time he stumbled out of Headquarters and out onto the streets of Central, he was gasping and panting for air. His chest contracted painfully and for a moment, he couldn't breathe properly. It took a while, but his breathing soon evened out and as he straightened and looked about him for any signs of his ever-green superior, he wondered idly whether he was really that out of shape.

When not even a glimpse of latex, green or otherwise, could be seen, he let out a relieved sigh before continuing down the street, not really knowing where he was going.

As he walked, subconsciously dodging people and busy roads, he did what he typically did when he had nothing productive to do; he brooded. Well, not brooded, per se. Uchiha Sasuke preferred to think of it as 'reflecting'. It sounded so much better than brooding, anyways. Brooding made people think he was an emo or something. Which he wasn't. Really. Don't look like that. It's impolite.

Sasuke didn't care what people thought, anyway. He never did; it would've been a shame if he started now. The blonde dobe would probably roll his sky-blue eyes and puff out his cheeks if--

The Uchiha froze suddenly in mid-step, his heart clenching, his eyes narrowing. Fisted hands by his side tensed as his fingernails dug into the skin of his palms, drawing tiny trickles of blood. For a moment, he could almost feel the pain, fleeting as it was.

It had been so natural, to think of Naruto like that. So easy, and Sasuke almost believed that the boy was still alive. Steeling himself, Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it seconds later. Slowly, ever so slowly, his tense hands relaxed, his fingers stopped biting into skin, his eyes reopened and his heart beat loudly in his chest, unclenched yet still hurting. His onyx orbs gazed dazedly across the street, where a mother and her child were standing, waiting to cross the road, and Sasuke tried to focus on that instead of the empty feeling in his chest, his stomach, his heart. Everywhere and anywhere.

The child holding onto its mother's hand tightly stared back at him, and the Uchiha absently smiled a small smile. Surprisingly, the child smiled back, and that brought Sasuke out of his daze. Shaking his head to clear his mind, the ebonette turned the corner and sighed again.

He continued walking aimlessly for ten minutes, lost in his (morbid) thoughts, and was only stopped when something wet and cold collided with his cheek, dripping down the flat plains of his skin to trail onto his neck and under the collared black shirt he wore beneath his dark blue coat. The Uchiha blinked and stopped again, looking up to see what had fallen on him.

He couldn't see what it was, since another one of it fell into his eye, and he quickly ducked, blinking to clear the vision in his right sight. Several more of the cold droplets started to thunder down on him soon after, and the Uchiha dashed towards the nearest shelter he could find, cursing under his breath.

Another ten minutes later found a thoroughly soaked Uchiha Sasuke taking sanctuary in front of a roofed entrance to god-knew-where, looking miserable and ready to kill TEBUA. Or anyone else, for that matter; he'd never been picky about killing, really. Not when it was Kakashi's fault. Yes, Sasuke was convinced this was somehow Kakashi's fault.

He was wet, miserable, hungry and cold; and it was all Kakashi-taisa's fault.

Sasuke started to growl lowly in his throat and glared at nothing in particular, watching the rain with disdain. He was pondering on whether or not he dared running through a storm back to Headquarters when something dropped heavily onto his shoulder and he squeaked as he whirled around, jumping a foot in the air.

A deep chuckle came at his reaction and the Uchiha glared menacingly at the one standing before him.

"Ne, Sasu-chibi, I thought you didn't scare easily?" teased the same deep voice laughing at him and the Uchiha glared his Uchiha Glare™ #15 instead, dark, abysmal irises glinting and slowly bleeding red around the edges.

The boy that stood beside him merely chortled louder at his apparent agitation, dark crimson eyes, almost rivaling Itachi's Sharingan in their bloodiness, dancing with mirth. Long, unruly dark red hair tinted with orange fell past bare, broad shoulders, his shorter bangs falling into his strikingly handsome tanned face, with its strong jaw and sharp nose.

Sasuke edged away from the other as far as he could without having to actually moving back out into the rain and continued to glare venomously. He tried hard not to blush at the revealing clothes the boy wore, and cursed TEBUA and Kakashi once more in his head.

"What do you want, Kyuubi?" he grunted, keeping a wary eye on the redhead.

Kyuubi made a wounded face, his laughing red eyes widening to give a puppy dog impression. "Wah, Sasu-chan, so cold!" he whined. "Can't I drop around to see my most bestest best friend in the whole wide world every once in a while?"

Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes and merely slapped away the large hand that attempted to grab a hold of his own pale limb. "You're not my bestest best friend, Kyuubi," he snapped.

Kyuubi smirked suddenly and the Uchiha narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why not? Since the blonde dobe's gone, I'm the one who knows you better than anyone else, ne?"

Sasuke tensed at the mention of the blonde dobe –_his_ blonde dobe- and his glare intensified tenfold. Furiously, he launched himself at the redhead that still stood smirking at him, causing them both to fall to the ground.

"Don't you dare mention him, you bastard!" hissed the ebonette viciously, grabbing the other boy's shoulders and shaking him roughly. His dark orbs were now fully red and the three tomoe in each iris were spinning rapidly.

Kyuubi seemed unperturbed by this, though, and grabbed Sasuke's wrists instead, easily overpowering the ebonette as he pushed himself back up, bringing Sasuke up with him. The Uchiha, growling, tried to pull away from the grip on his hands, failing miserably. The fact that he was sitting snugly on Kyuubi's lap and the fact that the aforementioned redhead was thoroughly pleased with that, did little to appease his souring mood.

"Let. Go. Of. Me!" demanded the ebonette, emphasizing each word with a pull and a tug, his Sharingan still activated, though they were of little use against Kyuubi, as both boys well knew.

When Kyuubi said nothing, merely smirking and holding onto Sasuke's wrists tightly, the ebonette found himself getting tired. Silently, he cursed himself and quickly deactivated his Sharingan, blinking slowly. When his red eyes faded back to black, he sighed wearily before staring at Kyuubi emotionlessly.

"What do you want?" he asked, voice quiet and nearly inaudible amidst the pounding of the rain around them.

Kyuubi's smirk dropped finally. "What I've always wanted, Sasuke," he murmured, leaning in closer to the ebonette. His dark eyes were of all seriousness, and Sasuke cringed at their sudden close proximity.

The heat between them was suddenly blaringly obvious to the dark-haired boy and he closed his eyes tight, turning his head away. "My answer will always be the same. You know that," he whispered, trying hard to keep Naruto's face floating in his mind, making sure it wasn't replaced by that of Kyuubi's.

It was hard, though. Naruto was gone, and Kyuubi was there. Kyuubi had always been there. And the similarities between the two had always been hard on the Uchiha, especially when both held the same interests in him.

Sasuke heard a bitter chuckle and was relieved when the fingers around his wrists loosened. Slowly, he turned back to look at Kyuubi, who avoided his gaze, and carefully stood from the other boy's lap.

"I came for another reason," said Kyuubi, voice now void of any emotion.

Sasuke didn't say anything, and only followed silently when Kyuubi gestured for him to follow as the redhead pushed open the door they'd been both standing in front of. The heavy metal screeched against the floor, causing Sasuke to cringe a little, and they made their way into the dark, dusty room beyond. Kyuubi shut the door behind them and continued deeper into the building, Sasuke following obediently, and after a while of walking in the dirt-covered hallway, they entered a relatively clean room lighted by a few torches hanging from the mossy walls.

Sasuke stopped when he passed a window set into one of the walls and stared out, surprised to see the looming building of Headquarters greeting his sight from amidst the falling raining.

"I saw you going in and coming out," said Kyuubi from behind him, and Sasuke turned slightly to see the redhead bending over a chest in one corner of the room. "Here; dry off before you catch a cold." Sasuke caught the orange towel thrown at him gratefully, pulling off his coat and laying it neatly over the window ledge before wrapping himself with the dry fabric.

As Kyuubi went back to rummaging through the chest in the corner, Sasuke surveyed the small room quietly. There was a futon in one corner, with messy blankets and a smudged pillow, and a low table stood in the middle. A stove (where'd Kyuubi get a stove?) stood somewhere to the side of the chest Kyuubi was rummaging through, and a mini fridge was propped against the wall not far from there. There was nothing else that furnished the room, other than the several used papers scattered randomly all over the place, but Sasuke was surprised nonetheless.

"This is just a temporary base," informed Kyuubi, and Sasuke looked over at him to see the redhead watching him with guarded eyes. "Kakashi thinks I do nothing but sit around reading porn all day, so he set me up here so he can keep an eye on me."

Sasuke snorted before he could stop himself. "That's what_ he_ does," he muttered, mostly to himself.

Kyuubi smirked. "That's what I said," he agreed. The redhead walked over to the low table in the middle of the room and sat down cross-legged comfortably, placing a thick binder on the table. He gestured for Sasuke to come over and sit as well, and the ebonette did as such.

Curiously, the ebonette leaned over to see what the binder was and Kyuubi pushed it closer to him.

"I've been doing research," started the redhead and Sasuke immediately pulled away from the binder at the last word. The redhead chuckled before waving a hand carelessly. "No, this has nothing to do with Jiraiya's so-called specialty."

Relieved and assured, Sasuke looked over the binder again. Kyuubi smirked before continuing. "Anyway, as I was saying; I've been doing some research on a few incidents that have been happening lately," he continued, leaning over to pull open the binder. The handwriting on the first page was horrid, and Sasuke cringed, while Kyuubi huffed indignantly, though choosing to keep quiet. "None of them seem to have anything in common, other than the descriptions of the perpetrators." Kyuubi flipped through a few pages before resting on one with a crudely-taken photograph of a figure in a tattered, hooded cloak and poked at it with his index finger. "This, was taken by a witness about a month ago in East City. He reported that the man here," Kyuubi poked the picture again and Sasuke noticed he seemed to take pleasure in it, despite the fact that it was pointless to do so, "was 'lookin' darn suspicious with 'is darn cloak and funny 'ers'."

The Uchiha raised a brow and Kyuubi shrugged. "Took me a while, but I found out that the guy here," another poke, "has 'fox-like' ears."

The raised brow rose ever-so higher. "Fox ears?" echoed Sasuke skeptically.

Kyuubi shrugged again before turning the page. The next page had another picture and Sasuke glared at it upon seeing the familiar, gaunt features of his brother.

"This," a jab from Kyuubi and Sasuke suddenly realized how it could be fun doing that, "was taken at the same time, though by another civilian. This one said that he was 'such a kind, polite young man'."

Sasuke nearly puked and figured it showed on his face because Kyuubi suddenly smirked again.

"These two," the Itachi picture suffered two stabs from Kyuubi, "were most seen by the people around there. There're two others, but the only thing I could get on them were inconsistent except that one of them looked like a shark/fish mofo," Sasuke's expression contorted into what seemed to be amusement mixed with disbelief, "and the other a transsexual blonde with a bird hanging off his shoulder."

Sasuke, face now his usual unemotional mask, nodded slowly when Kyuubi paused and stared at him expectantly. After a moment, the Uchiha spoke.

"Itachi's running a farm."

This was said with a straight face and Kyuubi smirked before laughing uncontrollably. Sasuke, meanwhile, shook his head grimly before grabbing the binder and flipping through it again.

"What the fuck kind of murdering psychopath uses farm animal freaks?" he muttered all the while, scanning through the several badly-written notes quickly.

He could barely read most of them, but something caught his eye and made him stop abruptly.

"Oi," he called to Kyuubi, who was rolling on the floor, gasping and laughing between shouts of 'Itachi's a psychopathic farmer!'.

Sasuke twitched when the redhead ignored him and glared. "OI!" he yelled, throwing a random book that was nearby at the older teen.

It hit Kyuubi square on the head and he yelped in pain before turning to glare at Sasuke.

"What was that for?" he growled, rubbing the bump forming on his head.

Sasuke ignored the glare and merely pointed at the page in the binder he was currently reading.

"What's this?"

Kyuubi glared a moment longer before squinting at what the ebony-haired teen was pointing at. The small, squiggly drawing of a transmutation circle greeted his dark eyes and he shrugged at Sasuke's inquisitive stare.

"It was found on the sites of the accidents," informed Kyuubi.

Sasuke raised a brow. "And what _were_ these accidents, really?" he asked, voice low and grim.

Kyuubi frowned. "Well, mostly vandalisms and random civilian assaults. The victims all reported having lost some personal effects, but most of them never really got seriously injured and none of them remember much of what happened, anyway."

"And the vandalisms?" pressed on the Uchiha, eyes hardening.

Kyuubi's frown deepened and he looked away. "Graveyards."

Sasuke's onyx orbs narrowed. "What?"

"Graveyards. The vandalisms were the desecration of several seemingly random and unconnected graves located throughout the cities."

Sasuke's breath was caught in his throat and his steely eyes glazed over.

"Graves…," he breathed, turning to stare at the transmutation circle on the page.

It was familiar, in all honestly. That was what had drawn his attention to it. The familiarity of the circle brought about a sense of foreboding from the teen and he was sure it was something dangerous.

"Oi, Sasu-chibi?"

The call brought him out of his thoughts and the Uchiha turned to look at the redhead, who was suddenly ridiculously close to him. Surprised and alarmed, the ebony-haired teen yelped and jumped back, stumbling onto his butt and landing on his back on the floor. In his attempts to stay up, his arms had grabbed at anything that was nearby. Unfortunately, that anything was Kyuubi, and the redhead, caught off-guard, fell right with him, landing on top of the smaller boy.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, it's about time you moved on."

The airy, careless voice came from the window and both teens turned to see a blue-uniform clad taisa who was grinning from ear to ear, hands in his pockets and eye-patch in place.

Sasuke's first reaction to that was to be angry. How dare that bastard colonel show up so randomly after making him wait for six hours sitting on his rump in that cramped office! After his initial anger subsided, he suddenly realized that he was lying on his back on the floor. And he was warm. Yes, very, very warm. Then he noticed that something hot kept meeting the skin of his cheek and when he turned to see what it was, his vision was filled with dark, dark red.

It was another three seconds before Sasuke reacted.

In other words, before Sasuke screamed, thrashed and threw an unfortunate Kyuubi against the far wall. There was a resounding yell as the redhead crashed into and right through said wall.

Sasuke, now sitting up, stared with wide eyes at the Kyuubi-shaped hole now decorating the once perfectly functional wall.

"You know, I usually show them out to the door," interjected Kakashi from where he was still perched on the window ledge.

There was silence before another yelp sounded and a silver-haired person fell from the side window of the derelict building and into a puddle of mud right beneath said window, sporting a singed sleeve.

Kakashi wiped out the mud from his visible eye and looked up at an equally drenched and dirty Kyuubi who was towering above him.

"Baka taisa!" growled the redhead and Kakashi smiled helplessly, pointing at his chin.

"You have some over here," he pointed out.

Kyuubi didn't reply and merely stomped off, squishing a nearby flower viciously.

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_Tbc…_

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Kaeru: (stares dumbly) … You know, I never meant to put in Kyuubi as another person… Gyah… Damn… Now I have to go review the plot… T.T Wah, more work… Oh well then. Can't be helped… (mutters under breath about being disorganized) Anyways, maybe I should put KyuuSasu in the summary? And NaruKyuuSasu…? XD Waddaya say? Anyone up for a threesome? Votes up! Which pairing do you prefer? Anywho, review please! I'm terribly sorry for the late update! It was lucky I even got to upload this at all! Well, jaa!

PS: What do you think of Tenten as Riza? I actually wanted to put Shizune as her (they both have finish-work disorders… :D), but then decided that Tenten should be her, since she never misses a target like Riza. Anyway, random thought; any of you notice that Roy is surrounded by blondes…? O.o

PSS: Ne, I already have an alias for Sasu-chan, but I wanted to know if any of ya'll have other ideas, eh? If you want me to name him something else, tell me in a review or PM me, kays?


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